Water main break leads to loss of service for women's jail and Chicopee businesses

CHICOPEE - A major water main break on Center Street near Plainfield Street late Wednesday night led to the loss of more than 200,000 gallons of water and the shutdown of water to the women's regional jail as well as several area businesses.

Repairs were completed on Thursday, said Walter F. Ruszala, cross connection control coordinator for the Water Department.

"It was a pretty good size break," Ruszala said .

Chicopee police were first notified of a problem shortly before midnight Wednesday and Water Department crews were able to shut off the water within 42 minutes before round-the-clock repairs were made.

A total of 223,750 gallons of water were lost.

Ruszala said the leak stemmed from an aging 12-inch cast iron main.

Water Commission Chairman Alfred E. Pinciak who went to the scene, said "They worked very hard all night and did a terrific job. They are to be commended."

Pinciak said he had no idea how much the repairs would cost but they would have to come from the Water Department's budget.

A major stumbling block, Pinciak said, was the discovery of an underground tunnel that had apparently been used years ago for former Bosch Co. employees.

Ruszala said the problem was that a portion of the pipe that needed repairs was under the tunnel and to avoid a collapse, the new pipe was rerouted over the tunnel.

According to Pinciak, the problem was first detected when people began noticing a severe drop in water pressure, alarms went off and then the area of the problem was identified by authorities.

"They had to shut the water off at the jail, the methadone center and some businesses. Repairs were a very complicated process and it's amazing they finished as rapidly as they did," Pinciak said .

Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said the Fire Department was also on scene to check on the sprinkler systems at the jail following repairs.

He said the pipe system is to be replaced as part of the $7.7 million Center Street reconstruction project from Hampden Street to the Springfield city line and including the reconstruction of the Center and Hampden streets intersection.

The Water Department has to fund $2.2 million to install new water lines and the Sewer Department will pay about $400,000 in related work.

Ruszala said about 15 Water Department employees worked to complete the repairs and employees at the Water Department on Tremont Street fielded calls.

According to Ruszala, bottled water was brought in for businesses that were without water during the repair process.

The last customer to have service restored was the jail complex at about 3:45 p.m. on Thursday.